Okay, I’m not going to try and recreate the shopping list, but I have noticed something about one of today’s arrivals, Adam Strange 5.
At Cognitive Dissonance, Johanna notes:
“I was enjoying this more before all the buzz, and definitely before the rumors about it tying in to some big DC event.”
The Pickytarian expresses a similar sentiment:
“I’m also a little unhappy that what started out as a series of light-hearted, self-contained adventure stories is already devolving into a crossover-initiating, grim n’ gritty, continuity-heavy morass.”
DC has noted repeatedly that Adam Strange will be one of the paving stones for its pending trio of line-wide terror. (For a mighty astute examination of that, scamper on over to Comic World News and read the latest Past the Front Racks.) I’ll be interested to see if this message actually boosts sales for the book.
It seems like DC decided at a certain point that they had to get the word out that Adam Strange… y’know… mattered. “It’s not just a quirky, well-crafted space caper that you can enjoy entirely on its own merits. It’s a feeder fish for our Next Big Thing!” Because we wouldn’t want anyone enjoying a stand-alone story, now would we?
And DC gets the the bulk of its profits from its Next Big Things. I get that, though I do wish its more interesting, smaller-scale titles would manage to turn a profit.
Honestly, nothing about Adam Strange has changed except for the way it’s being marketed, and that really shouldn’t mess with my response to it as an entertainment. But, for whatever reason, it does. It seemed like the exception to DC’s Next Big Things and the crossovers they spawn, and to see it presented as another rung on that particular ladder is disappointing.